NEWS RELEASE from the United States Department
of DefenseNo. 808-05IMMEDIATE RELEASEAugust 8, 2005Media Contact: Army Public Affairs - (703)
692-2000 Public/Industry Contact: (703)428-0711

DoD Identifies Army Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the
death of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Both died on August 5, 2005, in Rubiah, Iraq, when a civilian fuel truck
collided with their HMMWV while performing a convoy mission.

Killed were:

Sergeant First Class Robert
V. Derenda, 42, of Ledbetter, Kentucky. Derenda was assigned
to the U.S. Army Reserve's 1st Brigade, 98th Division, Rochester, New York.

For further information related to this release, contact Army Public Affairs
at (703) 692-2000.

Army Sergeant First Class Brett E. Walden,
40, died in Rubiah, Iraq, on August 5, 2005, according to the Department
of Defense. Walden and another solider, Sergeant First Class Robert V.
Derenda, 42, of Ledbetter, Kentucky, died while on a convoy mission after
a fuel truck collided with their armored Humvee. Two other unidentified
soldiers were injured in the collision.

Walden is survived by this wife, Autumn,
and their 12-year-old daughter, Alexandria. The couple had been married
15 years and purchased a Dover Township farm last month, friends said.
Autumn Walden recently accepted a job with York County District Attorney’s
Office.

Walden was a Weapons Sergeant for the 1st Battalion,
5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), Fort Campbell, Kentucky, since May
2001.

He had gone to Afghanistan for one tour of
duty and just recently started his fourth tour in Iraq.

Walden was a decorated soldier who won numerous
honors, including the Combat Infantry Badge, the Expert Infantry Badge,
the Bronze Star, the Army Commendation Medal and the Army Achievement Medal.

Arrangements for Walden were incomplete, according
to a spokesman from the Harrisburg funeral home handling his arrangements,
Gilbert L. Dailey Funeral Home. At some point, the soldier will be buried
at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia with military honors. His family
could not be reached for comment Monday evening.

Fatal Iraq wreck ended a dream life: Special
Forces

Sergeant First Class Class Brett Eugene Walden
achieved a boyhood dream by joining Special Forces, but it ended with his
death in Iraq just seven months before he was supposed to retire from the
Army.

Walden, a 40-year-old Kentucky-based soldier,
lived in Fort Walton Beach when he was a teenager.

He died Friday when a civilian fuel truck collided
with the Humvee he was riding in, according to the Pentagon.

Also killed was Sergeant First Class Robert
V. Derenda, 42, of Ledbetter in Livingston County, Kentucky, a member of
the Army Reserve's 98th Division, based in Rochester, New York.

Eddie Mae Owens, Walden's aunt, recalled that
family members were not sure what to say when he told them of his ambition.

"There's not a whole lot of Green Berets, so
nobody ever dreamed that that's what he would become," she said.

But Walden became a member of the 5th Special
Forces Group, based in Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

Walden was set to retire in February and had
long talked of returning to the Florida Panhandle with his wife, Autumn,
and their 12-year-old daughter, Alexandria, of Dover, Pennsylvania, Owens
said.

Walden is scheduled to be buried August 19,
2005, at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
WALDEN, BRETT ESFC US ARMYDATE OF BIRTH: 11/07/1964DATE OF DEATH: 08/05/2005BURIED AT: SECTION 60 SITE 8236ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY